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How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming

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How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming

Written by: Mike Brown
Narrated by: Ryan Gesell
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About this listen

The debate culminated in the demotion of Pluto from real planet to the newly coined category of “dwarf” planet. Suddenly Brown was receiving hate mail from schoolchildren and being bombarded by TV reporters—all because of the discovery he had spent years searching for and a lifetime dreaming about. Filled with both humor and drama, How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming is Mike Brown’s engaging first-person account of the most tumultuous year in modern astronomy—which he inadvertently caused. As it guides readers through important scientific concepts and inspires us to think more deeply about our place in the cosmos, it is also an entertaining and enlightening personal story: While Brown sought to expand our understanding of the vast nature of space, his own life was changed in the most immediate, human ways by love, birth, and death. A heartfelt and personal perspective on the demotion of everyone’s favorite farflung planet, How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming is the book for anyone, young or old, who has ever dreamed of exploring the universe—and who among us hasn’t?

©2010 Mike Brown (P)2010 Random House
Astronomy & Space Science Physics Science United States Solar System Witty
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What the critics say

"Finally I have someone to whom I can forward the hate mail I get from schoolchildren. After all these years, the real destroyer of Pluto has confessed. Part memoir and part planetary saga, How I Killed Pluto invites you into planetary scientist Mike Brown's office, his home, and his head as he tells the story of how his research on the outer solar system led directly to the death of Pluto, the planet." (Neil deGrasse Tyson, Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium and author of The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet)

“Romance, intrigue, laughter, skullduggery, and most of all: science! Mike Brown has done more than anyone to reshape our view of the solar system, and this first-person account of his discoveries is an irresistible page-turner. You’ll have so much fun, you won’t even notice how much you’re learning.” (Sean Carroll, author of From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time)

“Science is at its best when it shakes up our thinking, and when it comes to planets, Mike Brown has grabbed on with both hands. Whether you think Pluto is a planet or just another ice ball, you’ll find Brown’s tale of exploring the outer solar system a charming and even endearing read. If Pluto is indeed dead, then its sacrifice was not in vain.” (Philip Plait, author of Death from the Skies!)

What listeners say about How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming

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One of my favourites

Great educational story that is funny the whole time. The voice performance is on of the better I've heard, really feels like he is tell the story not just reading.

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Exellent, except for long strings of numbers.

The story was brilliant, extremely well put together with lots of educational content with amazing analogies so they were easy to follow.

The only negative part of it is occasionally it refers to an object by the scientific identification which sounds like a phone number. Not ideal for audio.

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